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We narrow down the playing field for best restaurant, design, and food truck of the year

Today, the process of choosing this year’s stars in the Austin restaurant world — the Eater Awards winners for 2019 — continues apace. After fielding many solid ideas from readers during the course of our month-long nomination period, it’s time to narrow the playing field. There are four finalists in three categories: Restaurant of the Year, Design of the Year, and Food Truck of the Year.

Here they are, listed in alphabetically order:

Restaurant of the Year

• Comedor: The high-end downtown modern Mexican restaurant from an all-star team — Gabe Erales, Philip Speer, and Alan Delgado — thrills with elegant and inventive dishes drawn from the Latin American country, with much love for masa, vegetables, and meats.
• DipDipDip Tatsu-ya: The refined Crestview restaurant focuses on shabu-shabu (Japanese hot pot) offers a new-school upscale take from the Texas-Japanese experts behind Ramen Tatsu-ya.
• Uroko: The team behind essential Japanese restaurant Kome opened a new East Austin destination for approachable sushi, from the daytime counter-service temaki (hand rolls) to the quick omakase to even sushi-making classes.
• Vaquero Taquero: Brother Daniel and Miguel Cobos transformed their beloved taco truck into their very own tiny counter-service restaurant of the same name, with a focus on expertly made classic tacos, making ample use of that trompo and grill in North Campus.

Design of the Year

• Comedor: The stunning downtown space, designed by Tom Kundig, is unlike anything else in Austin: The black brick building hides a soaring dining room with top-level windows for natural light and an open-air courtyard, all obscured from the nosy downtown eyes.
• Domo Alley-Gato — Once again, the Ramen Tatsu-ya gang teamed up with go-to designer McCray & Co to recreate a yokocho (a Tokyo alley) with a Japanese tachinomiya (a standing bar) right in the middle of East Sixth Street, complete with cats everywhere.
• Oseyo: The chic East Austin Korean restaurant, designed by owner Lynn Miller and Mark Cravotta, is an ode to Miller’s background: a homey environment from the hanging ceiling centerpiece made of up woven baskets to open shelving displaying books, vases, and kettles.
• Vixen’s Wedding: The Goan-Portuguese restaurant within East Sixth hotel Arrive East Austin is a splashy, vibrant space, thanks to McCray & Co., with plenty of jewel tones, colorful tiles, a mural of the namesake fox, and more.

Food Truck of the Year

• LeverCraft: Owner Eric Mann built an oh-so-stylish tribute to coffee on wheels in the MLK neighborhood, where the menu focuses on skillfully made espresso and coffee.
• Spicy Boys: Very popular Pan-Asian food truck Soursop expanded into the spicy fried chicken field with the debut of its new East Sixth food truck, where the poultry is served with fiery sauces, within sandwiches, and more.
• Talād Thai and Lao Street Food: Excellent Southeast Asian dishes can be found at the new East Sixth food truck from the Talād team, half of whom are Thai and the other Laotian, which means items like slow-cooked beef curries and doughy rotis.
• Trill Taqueria: Former Eden East chef Nick Belloni opened up his own food truck dedicated to new school tacos served on corn tortillas, with a major emphasis on vegetables like grilled napa cabbage and foraged mushrooms.

All of these finalists have either opened or come into their own in a new way since we declared the winners last year. All of them were key contributors to making 2019 a great year of eating in Austin. So please, take a moment to give these brave finalists a round of applause. Winners will be crowned, with much fanfare, on Tuesday, December 10, 2019.

All Coverage of the Eater Awards [EATX]

They are still filming Season 4 in Scotland but Starz announced today that Outlander will be back for a fifth and sixth run as well. With Season 4 set to debut in November, premium cabler boss Chris Albrecht unsurprisingly kept his word from TCA this January when he told critics and fans "I wouldn't worry" about the well watched  Caitriona Balfe and Sam Heughan starring time travel romance drama  based on Diana Gabaldon getting at least two more seasons. "Fans can rest…

We love Bourbon and Country Ham, plain and simple. The first Kentuckians were thrifty, industrious, and adventurous. They tamed the frontier to plant grains, raise livestock, and build homes. With their leftover grain, they made whiskey, and with their leftover meat, they made country ham. For Easter, we take the pairing one step further with classic deviled eggs – perfect for a Bourbon Brunch.

We found this recipe in “The Bourbon Country Cookbook – New Southern Entertaining: 95 Recipes and More from a Modern Kentucky Kitchen,” by David Danielson and Tim Laird. This book is touted as the ultimate guide to modern Southern entertaining, developed by the executive chef at Churchill Downs and the chief entertaining officer of Brown-Forman. Preorder your copy here! 

You’ll find as many versions of deviled eggs in the region as there are home cooks, who tend to use their mothers’ or grandmothers’ or great-grandmothers’ tried-and-true recipes. Some debate the allure of the savory and salty deviled egg, while others insist it’s just not a decent deviled egg unless it’s got sweet pickle relish. Part of what makes this version unique is we prefer to steam the eggs instead of boiling them. You can also create a deviled egg bar by topping the eggs with different ingredients. Try pimento cheese, smoked trout or salmon, cooked crab, bacon, pesto, or pickle relish.

12 large eggs
4 slices thinly sliced country ham (prosciutto style), cut into 2-inch-long strips
1/2 cup mayonnaise, such as Duke’s (see Resources, page 203)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon champagne vinegar
1/4 teaspoon hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, for garnish

In a large bowl, combine ice and water to make an ice bath. In a large steamer pot or pan with a steamer basket, add enough water so it just touches the bottom of the basket or sieved pan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the eggs in a single layer, cover the pot, and steam for 13 minutes. Drain the eggs and immediately transfer them to the ice bath to stop the cooking process. Allow the eggs to cool and then peel them.

In a small skillet over medium heat, fry the country ham, stirring constantly until crisp, about 2 minutes. Transfer the country ham to a paper towel to drain, and set it aside.

Halve the eggs lengthwise. Place the egg whites on a clean work surface. Remove the yolks and place them in a medium bowl. Add the mayonnaise, mustard, and vinegar. Stir to combine and add the hot sauce. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.

Place the egg yolk mixture into a piping bag or into a zip-top plastic bag with a corner snipped off. Pipe the egg yolk mixture into the egg white halves. Top each egg with a piece of the country ham and garnish with parsley.

The post Deviled Eggs with Country Ham from “The Bourbon Country Cookbook” appeared first on The Bourbon Review.

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We Americans have been deceived by the notion that individual desires preempt the needs of society; by the Ayn-Rand/Reagan/Thatcher aversion to government regulation; by the distorted image of "freedom" as winner-take-all capitalism; by the assurance that the benefits of greed will spread downward to everyone.

Our current capitalist-driven inequalities will only be rectified when people realize that a strong community makes successful individuals, not the other way around.

Here are a few of the ways we would benefit with a social democracy.

1. The Super-Rich Wouldn't Make Our Decisions for Us

Decisions about higher education should be made by everyone, with public tax dollars allocated in a democratic fashion. But our tax dollars have gone away. The Reagan-era "government is the problem" attitude led to dramatic tax cuts and a resulting decline in government funding for public universities. Instead of paying for all the societal benefits heaped upon them, billionaires keep getting richer -- just 14 individuals making more than the entire federal education budget two years in a row.

As a result, as noted by Larry Wittner, "campus administrators, faced with declining income, are increasingly inclined to accept funding from wealthy individuals and corporations that are reshaping higher education to serve their interests." The Koch brothers have spent millions funding universities and stipulating the kind of education that should be provided.

We're left with philanthropy instead of democracy. The philanthropists, not we the people, are beginning to make these vital decisions. Said Charles Koch: "I believe my business and non-profit investments are much more beneficial to societal well-being than sending more money to Washington."

Education is not the only area where we're losing control. Bill Gates' contribution of $2 billion toward alternative energy solutions is admirable, but energy decisions should be made by society as a whole, with tax money, through our (well-chosen) representatives, and with the complementary support of private investors. Gates himself admits, "DARPA money is very well spent, and the basic-science money is very well spent. The government...should get about four times as much money as they do."

2. We Wouldn't Spend So Much Money on Security for Rich People

Nationally, we spend over $1 trillion per year on defense. Not just the half-trillion Pentagon budget, but another half-trillion for veterans affairs, homeland security, "contingency operations," and a variety of other miscellaneous military "necessities."

But that's not enough for the relative few at the top of our outrageously unequal society. The richest Americans build private fortresses to protect themselves from the rest of us, as they scoff at the notion of a 1950s-like progressive tax structure that would provide infrastructure funding for all of us.

3. We Wouldn't Give All the Credit for a Tech Product to One Person

In the extreme capitalist mind, Steve Jobs started with boxes of silicon and wires in a garage and fashioned the first iPhone. The reality is explained by Mariana Mazzucato: "Everything you can do with an iPhone was government-funded. From the Internet that allows you to surf the Web, to GPS that lets you use Google Maps, to touchscreen display and even the SIRI voice activated system— all of these things were funded by Uncle Sam through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), NASA, the Navy, and even the CIA."

That's true of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk and every pharmaceutical CEO. They may be brilliant leaders, and they certainly deserve compensation for their roles, but the main accomplishment of each was to assemble the parts provided by years of public research.

4. Public Sentiment Would Prevail Over the Demands of Lobbyists

Society's needs are often ignored in our individual-oriented capitalist system. Over 90% favor laws on clean air and water, but Congress has proposed to weaken them. Over 90% want background checks for gun purchases, but the NRA constantly bullies over 200 million Americans. And 80% of us want to take on Wall Street. 

5. Our Jobs Wouldn't Be Held Hostage in Tax Havens

The great majority of Americans -- including many millionaires -- want to end overseas tax loopholes for corporations. But Fortune 500 companies ignore the rights of the public. They owe more than $600 billion in taxes on their tax haven hoardings.

That's a job for all 8 million unemployed Americans, at the nation's median salary of $36,000. For two years. But our greedy super-capitalist system allows much of society to be deprived of opportunities to work.

A Social Democracy

Social-oriented economic systems are not incompatible with small business entrepreneurship. In a social democracy, similar to those in Scandinavian countries, with elements of both capitalism and socialism intact, the worst abuses of a winner-take-all corporate-ruled system are avoided. The result is a land of opportunity. As Harvey J. Kaye put it, with supporting references to Thomas Paine, FDR, Martin Luther King, and Bernie Sanders, "Social democracy is 100 percent American."

 

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In addition to surpassing 20,000 Facebook “likes” in August, here are 5 posts from our page that got lots of attention.

#5. Tennessee Rolls Out “No Refusal” Blood-Draw DUI Checkpoints for Labor Day​

This is disturbing. “We are all American citizens, and you guys got me strapped to a table like I’m in Guantanamo fucking Bay.” — Mike Choroski, DUI Suspect via Police State USA

#4. Flex Executive Director Steve Silverman Discusses Recording the Police on RT

“The days where police officers could get away with this sort of abuse and lying are over, because cameras are everywhere.” — Steve Silverman, Flex Your Rights via RT America

#3. Glenn Greenwald Tweets Flex Your Rights

Flexers were saddened to learn that David Miranda, Glenn Greenwald’s spouse, didn’t flex his rights under interrogation. However, we appreciate Glenn’s quick response and clarification and tweeted him a link to watch 10 Rules for Dealing with Police with David. via Flex Your Rights Twitter, reposted to Facebook

#2. Police Groups Furiously Protest Eric Holder’s Marijuana Policy Announcement

“If there had been doubt about how meaningful Holder’s move was, the fury reflected in the police response eliminates it. The role of law enforcement is traditionally understood to be limited to enforcing laws, but police organizations have become increasingly powerful political actors, and lashed out at Holder for not consulting sufficiently before adopting the new policy.” via Ryan Grim, Huffington Post

#1. Why Did the Libertarian Cross the Road?

THIS was our most popular Facebook post in August! (Note: rights-flexing is not just for self-identified libertarians.) via imgur

 

Want to join the conversation? Follow Flex on Facebook today!

Umami Mia Pizzeria. [Photos: Spencer Selvidge/EATX]

Umami Mia Pizzeria opened just over a month ago, bringing a different flavor—or perhaps, a more specific one: umami—to the former Romeo's space on Barton Springs. Today, Eater Austin photographer Spencer Selvidge takes a tour through the restaurant, from the transit-themed interior to the sprawling back patio to an exterior wall turned tribute to tongues.

The pizza and pasta spot plus live music venue is a venture from the veteran restaurateurs behind Zen, Austin Java and Lil' Woodrow's, and opening hours are Sunday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m. to midnight.

· Umami Mia Pizzeria [Official]
· All Eater Inside Coverage on Eater Austin [-EATX-]
· All Umami Mia Pizzeria Coverage on Eater Austin [-EATX-]

div xmlns=http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtmlpLets assert that youre almost certainly not going to be the very first person to live forever./p pAlso worth noting that youre probably going to die of natural causes./p pThe expectations we have for medical care are derived directly from marketing and popular culture. Marcus Welby and a host of medical shows taught us about the heroic doctor, and more than that, about the power of technology and intervention to reliably deliver a cure./p pIts not a conspiracy--its just the result of many industries that all profit from the herculean effort and expense designed to extend human life, sometimes at great personal cost./p pHence the question: Do you want to choose whether or not you will be a profit center in the ever scaling medical-industrial complex? emOne percent of the population accounts for 30% of all health care expenditures/em, and half of those people are elderlya href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~www.thirteen.org/bid/sb-howmuch.html target=_self. /a/p pMost of that care is designed to prolong life, regardless of the cost, the pain or the impact on the family. A lot of doctors are uncomfortable with this, but they need you to speak up and make a choice (in advance) about what youd like. Some people want the full treatment, intervention at all costs./p pIf thats your choice, go for it. But be clear, in writing, that youd like to spare no expense and invest in every procedure, even if its pointless and painful. Dont be selfish and let someone else have to guess./p pOn the other hand, you have the right to speak up and stand up and clearly state if youd prefer the alternative. Many people prefer a quiet dignity that spares them and their family pain and trauma. But you have to do it now, because later is too late./p pThe web makes it easy to generate and sign a simple generic a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~www.doyourproxy.org/webtool.php target=_selfform/a. Or even better, go find the a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~www.doyourproxy.org/info.php target=_selfforms/a a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~www.doyourproxy.org/states.htm target=_selfstate by state/a. (If those pages are down, try a a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~https://duckduckgo.com/?q=health+care+proxy target=_selfsearch/a on health care proxy and the name of your state.) [A reader also suggests a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~mydirectives.com/ target=_selfMyDirectives/a.]#0160; [And consider the a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~www.agingwithdignity.org/ target=_selfFive Wishes/a.]/p pThere are two critical components: assigning an individual to be your health care proxy, and then telling that proxy, in writing, what youd like done (and not done) to you when the time comes./p pIf youve ever shared a post of mine, I hope youll share this one. If every person who reads this sits down with her family and talks this through (and then tells a few friends), well make a magnificent dent in the cultural expectation of what happens last. /p pIts free, its not difficult, it takes five minutes. Do it today if you can, whatever your wishes are. Dont make the people you love guess and then live with the memory of that guessing./p pSome things are more likely to happen if you plan for them. In this case, the end comes whether you a href=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/t/0/_/sethsblog/~actionmill.com/grace target=_selfplan/a for it or not. Planning merely makes it better./p/div Img align=left border=0 height=1 width=1 style=border:0;float:left;margin:0;padding:0 hspace=0 src=http://feeds.feedblitz.com/~/i/42273893/_/sethsblog nbsp;

Well! I think I have my routine at restaurants down pretty well. Here’s how it goes.

I enter.

I am seated.

I look at the menu.

I get a boring beverage like water or Diet Coke.

Then I ask the waiter or waitress as nicely as possible, since I am semi-screaming already, “Can you please turn down the music?”

You see, it’s deafening in there. Hell, it’s deafening everywhere these days. I think they want it loud, because that shows a place is happening and successful, full of people screeching important things at one another, their voices ricocheting off the concrete, their silverware clattering, their goblets overflowing, their laughter raucous and high-pitched.

And the music? Jesus, the music. I have no idea what it is, since I am a musical dolt, the kind of person nobody wants in a happening restaurant, especially in the Live Music Capital of the World. All I know is, the music is ear-splitting, pulsating, relentless. It assaults your ears, it vibrates through the floors, it takes up cacophonous residence in your head like one of those old Excedrin commercials.

“Can you please turn down the music?”

I say it nicely. Firmly, but with a breezy we’re-all-in-it-together bonhomie. Surely the waiter or waitress is sick of it, too. Weary of all the screaming and pulsating and aural gyrations, trapped like a rat in a lab experiment testing how much racket it takes to make a rodent non compos mentis. Surely!

Sometimes, yes. Yes, of course, the music will be turned down! Pronto! Bien sur! Oh, and do you want your water sparkling or flat?

Sometimes, no. Rolled eyes, subtle smirk, just a soupcon of ageist condescension. “We’ve already turned down the music once,” a waitress announced recently, which made about as much sense as a filthy child telling you he just took a bath last week, so what are you freaking out about, you old bat?

But never mind. I am getting a headache. I am tired of being patronized and deafened. I don’t care how great the food is. I am already looking forward to leaving, to that transcendent moment when we step outside and the roar subsides and our ears cease ringing.

My husband and I muse about a restaurant that would be perfect for people like us, people our age — a quiet and hushed space with soft music, bigger lettering on the menus so you can read it in the candlelight, servers who are respectful but not overly unctuous, who like us because we’re polite and presentable and not overly demanding and we always tip 20 percent unless they’re total dicks. Oh, yes, the kind of place where the hum of quiet, intense conversations and shared and muted laughter — which is music to me, music I do appreciate — lingers in the background.

This isn’t the Early Bird special — not yet, anyway. I prefer terms like quiet and sophisticated and elegant.

But then (I lecture myself), I don’t want to get too hyper-sensitive, too defensive about this whole aging business. I don’t want to assume a waiter or waitress isn’t thrilled to serve me because I am of a certain age and bitch about the volume; maybe it’s really because I’m a Sagittarius and a left-winger. I want to be open-minded, after all. Open-minded to the point of porousness.

But then (I go on), maybe this is all how it happens as you get older. The world gets louder and faster and more frenzied. Or maybe it’s always been that way and you’re finally noticing it, you’re finally falling just a step behind.

So what do you do? You speed up, of course. Apologize when you slow the pace. Push yourself more. Ignore the loud music; pretend you love it; beat your foot in time to it; grin like a half-wit.

Good grief, who are you kidding? This isn’t enjoyable. This is uncomfortable, this is hard work. To hell with trying to catch up with the loud, spinning world, you decide peevishly; you will go your own (increasingly poky) speed and let it blast and spin and gyrate past you. You will take your business and go elsewhere (where? you don’t know). Good riddance; so long, suckers; don’t forget to text.

But — niggling questions sprout like weeds. Is this how you grow old, withdrawing a little more each year from the world? How often do you keep venturing into the world and asking to be accommodated (turn down the music, slow your pace, quit mumbling)? How often do you just suck it up and hope nobody notices? Were you really there and does it count if you always leave early? What’s the difference between being a realist and a surrender monkey?

My husband thinks I take things too hard, analyze them too much, overreact. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Just because the music is too loud and I’ve been launched into a full-blown existential crisis — you call that overreacting?

We’ll have to talk when we finish our meal and go outside.

(Copyright 2013 by Ruth Pennebaker)

Read about grammar, punctuation, and life

 

 

 

   

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